Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-08-01
THE BARONESS.
Reavis and His Noble Wife
Here.
A HERALD MAN SEES THEN.
An Interesting Interview with
Mr.. Reavis and His Amiable
COnsOrt.

and his wife, the Baroness of the Col
orados, were in town, a HERALD re-
porter went in search of them. and
found them ensconced in comfortable
quarters at the st. Nicholas Hotel.
On making known the nature OF his
visit Mr.. Reavis at once stated that he
had objections to being interviewed,
and in fact had avoided the Examiner
representatives in San Francisco on
the occasion Of his recent visit there.
"The fact is," said Mr.. Reavis, 81
have nothing to say about the matter.
have got my case in a state that is
satisfactory to myself and do not
care about its being made public ex-
cept through the legal tribunal at
which it will be presented"
"How about the sensational stories
that the Examiner has been publish
ing during the past few days, are there
any grounds at all for those state
mentsr"
Mr.. Reavis smiled and said "The
Examiners stories are simply the
result OF reporters endeavors to
make something startling out of very
commonplace incidents. 1t really
amounts to this: They have taken
up the evidence in the case at GER
taia point and presented it from there
on but | have traced back far beyond
where they began and have estab-
lished facts and worked up evidence
{hof rx.tll cv>oaly fa.. stan1f xxrJ,nv, tho
proper time arrives. l cannot
give you the inside track now, as it
has already been charged to me that
have been endeavoring to influence
public sentiment in my behalf through
the medium of the press; but that is
exactly antithetical to my inclinations.
/ have a agood case, and shall let it
rely on its merits"
WHATS the feeling in Arizona re-
spectjng the AFFAIR.""
Favorable to my suit, ST., l assure
you, and this is proved at e9ery cleo
tion, when those who are on my side
are invariably nominated"
"May l ask you for brief history
of the case ?"
Certainly. My connection with it
dates some fourteen years back, when
. / first became acquainted with Miss
Peralta's rights to the estate I be-
came deeply interested in the affair
and resolved not to leave stone
unturned until / had got COM
plete evidence establishing her claim.
There were many difficulties to contend
with in the matter of obtaining docu-
mentary evidence, but l followed up
the case link by link until at last
have the chain complete. And here l
will introduce something connected
with the Examiners story, which
shoAd be explained. That paper
stated that travelled with Il woman
whom / introduced as my cousin and
about whom arose a scandal ending in
our both being expelled from the
house in which we were dwelling.
Now the truth of the m tier is this,
was already married to the lady and
at the time referred to had the docu-
ments in my possession to prove that
she was legally my wife. The cere-
mony was performed by civil contract
on the 3lst OF December, 1882,
but was kept profound secret for the
following reasons: was anticipating
visit to Spain to obtain conclusive
evidence of the claim l WAS about to
present and also for the purpose OF
interviewing my wife's relatives. Now
had not the marriage been performed
in the Catholic church, it would prob
ably have prejudiced the Peraltas
against our claim, and also | was desir-
ious of posing in the character which
had hitherto been sustaining-that
of her guardian. Consequently on our
arrival in Spain it was thus We pre-
sented ourselves and it was not until
our claim had been recognized and
acknowledged both by her relatives
and the authorities at Madrid that l
announced our real position towards
each other, and produced evidence
thereof through the resident
United States consul. Then the
ceremony was again performed
according to the rites of the
Catholic Church and the occasion was
celebrated by grand fiesta"
"Did you have any difficulties in es-
tablishing your claim over there ?"
"None at all, for apart from the doc
amentary evidence with which l was
armed, the striking resemblance my
wife bore both to the living represen-
tatiyes and the ancestral Peraltas was
conclusive. But here she Island as the
reporter bowed in response to an in
PRODUCTION accorded him he observed
a fine-looking woman bearing the dis
tinctiye and characteristic signs OF Il
descendant OF Spanish grandee.
Gas Twas saying" continued Mr.:
Reavis, cher very appearance formed
satisfactory evidence toward our claim.
could show you portraits of her an
cestors dating generations back, in
which you would be struck by the
remarkable resemblance between the
pictures and the person before you.
Well, / thoroughly established my
claim, and received official acknowl-
edgment thereof in the roy
al courts at Madrid, and
armed with this authority recrossed
the Atlantic and arrived in America
in November last"
"When and where will your evil
dence be made public?"
"There you have struck the point
which it is necessary l should keep
secret There are two courts of which
may avail myself, that of Washing
ton and the Arizona tribunal, but do
not care to say which is the one
selected?"
"Would the acknowledgement OF
your claim be derogatory in any way
to the settlers now on the land ?"
''Not at all, because nine-tenths of
hose residing on the grant hold their
titles directly from me, in fact all
Of those residing on lands with
water attached, practically the only
available part OF the claim"
"Then it amounts to this, that when
your application is acknowledged by
the government there will be no per-
ceptible result at all ?"
Precisely SO; the claim is practic.
allu nnlr,aoar1adnad nnu na all fhoaa